It is well-settled that water is critical to life on this planet. Providing a suitable source of water is critical to both personal health and industrial health. Potable water is essential to life. Potable water with a pleasing taste adds to the quality of life.
Water is also useful for recreational purposes. Use of water for these purposes requires a good quality of water. Sometimes, the recreational use can even have health advantages. For example, swimming is both recreational and good exercise. A water spa is both relaxing and a good treatment for sore muscles and other ailments.
Due to concerns of health, taste and other functions, many people now treat their water or have special bottled water brought into the home for cooking or drinking. When installing an exchange system or filtering system for home water systems, it must be remembered that it is not always desirable to use the water that has been passed through the exchange system or filtering assembly.
It is sometimes desirable to use the untreated water. Typical examples of uses for the untreated water include, but are not limited to, watering the lawn or washing the car. Therefore, a great advantage can be obtained if the filtering system can be bypassed as desired.
The filtering system exchange then is installed in the main waterline of a home or a business. In this particular matter, reference to a home can include any suitable structure, whether it is a residence or business. Water is critical for any structure used by a human.
This filtering system exchange tank system can filter all the water coming into the home or used for recreational purposes. In the event of a tank leakage, it is necessary to shut off all water unless the valve accommodates removal of the cylinder without loss of water flow. This complete loss of water service is undesirable.
Yet the installation of the exchange system for a home water system sometimes causes great difficulty in achieving this matter. It is always possible to install a very complicated combination of a separate bypass valve and a separate shut-off valve, which greatly complicates the installation of the exchange system. With the installation of the exchange system, proper application of a multi-functional valve having a combined safety, bypass, shut-off and inservice capability can greatly reduce the cost thereof from both a labor and material standpoint.
Thus, one must give weight to the complications of the combined bypass, shut-off valve for an exchange system to avoid the application of filtered or treated water, as opposed to the desired consumption of treated water. The complicated, combined, bypass, valving system may even cause some people to either avoid the use of such treated water, when it is highly desired to have such treated water, or use such treated water when it is unnecessary.
In the U.S., States, it is common to treat public water supplies with various chemicals. These chemicals are needed to disinfect the water. This treatment is necessary to avoid adverse health effects. However, it is also possible for the treatment of the water to result in a composition; which can have many adverse reactions, especially to the health of a person and the environment in general.
For example, chlorine which is commonly used in disinfecting water can have an undesired effect on the taste or odor of the water. It is highly desired to have a filter system with a multi-functional valve operably secured thereto, which can permit the filtration of the chlorine from the water while at the same time permit the unfiltered water to be used for watering lawns or similar noncritical functions.
If the installation of a water treatment system is simplified, tremendous advantages can occur. Not only does a person receive better water for consumption, it can be more simple for that person to avoid using treated water for non-critical purposes.
Sometimes it is desired to limit the treatment of the water to a specific area. For example, if a drinking faucet is desired, such filtration must be easily adapted to that restricted use. In other words, the filtering unit must be capable of being applied to only one faucet, to be used substantially for drinking water. Such flexibility of action is difficult to achieve with only one unit.
It is also desirable to be able to back-flush a filtering mechanism on occasion. With the back-flush, the filtering medium is rearranged for more efficient use of the medium. As water flows through a filtering medium, paths are created. These paths provide for treatment of certain parts of the water on certain parts of the filtering medium.
However, these paths can become encrusted with water residue. This crust prohibits water contact with the rest of the filtering medium. With the back-flush aspect of this device, the filtering medium can be rearranged without disassembling the cylinder and the filtering assembly.
Also, such a back-flush arrangement achieves the maximum exposure of the filtering medium to the water. The back-flush permits more efficient use of the filtration medium. Yet adding this desired feature creates complications and costs far in excess of the benefits achieved by the more efficient use of the filtering medium.
These valve requirements can also be applied to the recreational uses of water and the filter assembly required therefor. Yet it is hard to adapt a valve for both purposes.